That was a much closer game than I imagine most of us were expecting. Phil played very well, and it's not as if Zarte was subpar - he was unlucky to go the wrong way on a couple of risks, and that made for a very close game. Although it would have been even more exciting had it been crucial - not that Zarte would have wanted that of course! Anyway, well done both.

...hopefully you had your trousers changed already...or else yor sh*t would pile up on the floor and it's not nice when you leave it to others to clean up for you!

Alternative for R3 if you want to use all the Numbers: ((8 x 4) - (6 - 4)) x 1 x 5

Letters: For a moment, I thought DISAGREER was there but ah!! It wasn't!! Hey, good job Zarte on spotting MAESTRO in R2 and MURIATES, the word that made you finally catch up in R11! Well done to Phil for spotting SERRIED in R1 even though there were 8s to beat him. Commendation to both players for beating DC with ASSAULT in R4 (If you get what I mean... ) Unlucky Zarte though, I'm sure you had PERSONED in R10 to make that breakaway but that didn't happen until the next round.

Numbers: Only R9 was genuinely difficult today, too bad I didn't think complex enough (I thought of Multiples of 3 rather than Multiples of 9). Well done to both Zarte and Phil for geting all 40 Points just like what Toby McDonald and Philip Aston did last Friday in QF2!

Conundrum: Blanked out on this one...well done Zarte for solving it and pushing your score even further! I didn't even know this word was even related to Gynaecology...

What a game today, after Zarte's DISAGREER being disallowed I told myself "Not to worry, there's loads of time". After a while seeing Phil holding him back, I became worried, thinking this would end in a Crucial Conundrum. But with TONABLE ruled invalid, the former finally faded into the history books as Zarte's position in the Grand Final was confirmed. The Conundrum only further enhanced that ruling. You may also wish to know this is also the first time Zarte has falled behind since his loss to Series 69 runner-up Dylan Taylor. I'm not saying anything here, it's just that hopefully, Zarte had a good rest for the Grand Final Recording the very next day on 14 March. I hoped Phil found it fun, 88 Points is already very good against an excellent player, although he had to end his run with 9 Wins and 926 Points. Zarte continues on with 10 Wins and 1203 Points, just shy of 27 and 32 Points of beating the former two Grand Champions, Stephen Read and Tom Chafer-Cook!

Just two more episodes with Paul Zenon the Magician, what sort of tricks will he have up his sleeve this time round? The penultimate game of Series 78 tomorrow and Semi-Finals #2, it's "Guy who Caused an Upset Against Another Good Player" Philip Aston and "Guy who Gave the Six Small Trick Guy a Taste Of His Own Medicine" Dougie Mackay, who shall prevail and face Zarte on Friday? Will it be a rematch as most of us are thinking at this point? Don't miss it!

For the viewers sake, and maybe for the fairness of the game, it should have been a crucial (Maybe not for Zarte though! ) Phil played very well and gave us a much closer competition than imagined. Phil's a thoroughly deserved QF and the game did the title justice. Both solves in r9 were excellent, too. Good luck for the finals Zarte

Wow that was a close game! Very well done to Zarte for holding his nerve, disagree being disallowed was very unlucky. Nice to see Zarte go through to the grand final though, it's very well deserved Well done to Phil too though, a performance like that would have won most matches...just not against an on form Zarte

Wonder if his rigorous 6 consonant picking was tactical in the hope it'd throw Zarte off?

Why did you put in what I said about being good at countdown? I shouldn't have said really good. I'd actually like to know how good I am so if you could give me some letters, numbers and a conundrum and told me what countdown contestant I was as good as I'd appreciate it.